Elf'n'Safety madness

[henton49er]

We have today just replaced our electric kettle with one bought from a major supermarket. The kettle came with a 16 page instruction manual. :shock: :shock: For goodness sake, 16 pages to tell you how to fill with water and switch on!! :roll: :roll:

There is such helpful advice as:-

Never lift the kettle by the lid. Always use the handle
Do not immerse in any liquids
Do not operate in the presence of exlposive and/or flammable fumes
Never yank on the cord ( :shock: :shock: ) as this may cause blindness ... no, sorry ... this may damage the cord.

There is a full page devoted to a picture of the kettle with helpful pointers to the main parts such as the spout, the lid, the handle, the switch and the body. :lol: :lol:

I bet the kettle could have been sold a bit cheaper without all the mumbo jumbo.

I am surprised it does not have the words "Danger: may contain hot liquid" engraved onto the side or the lid.

Time we got sensible about things. Who buys a kettle and does not use it to boil water?

 

[mind_the_goat]

Yeah, but you did read it

 

[Dibs-h]

Mike

My initial thoughts were similar, but then people come in all sorts of shapes\sizes & intelligence and there will be folk in this latter category for whom such instructions would be of benefit. If the instructions weren't included - where would they get them?

My 2p worth

Dibs

 

[kirkpoore1]

Yea, but are the instructions in Spanish and French too?

Kirk, from a place where multilingual instructions are needed to accomodate immigrants (legal and il) and a tiny number of perfidious eastern Canadians...

 

[bugbear]

Who buys a kettle and does not use it to boil water?

I bet you people have (and will) used kettles to heat and/or boil soup, milk.

BugBear

 

[dj.]

I saw Jamie Oliver recently making mulled wine in an electric kettle, not surprisingly it tasted disgusting.


regards.



dj.

 

[MickCheese]

You are confusing these instructions with instructions.

These are merely there to try to ward off litigation.

Mick

 

[xy mosian]

Instructions are necessary. There are folk around who know nowt.

Last winter my neighbour, splendid chap in his late twenties, was suprised to learn that kitchen salt would work nearly as well as rock salt on ice. :? I kid you not.

xy

 

[nev]

I was hoping for another of Darwins finest like ...

 

[dickm]

We have a family friend who is a very eminent scientist, Fellow of the Royal Society, DBE and has enough honorary doctorates to fill a page. She was staying with us last year, got up to make herself some tea before we were up and plugged in our elderly metal Russell Hobbs kettle without checking there was any water in it. Seemed surprised when, after the element glowed red, it stopped working in a spectacular manner. "Oh, I just lifted it up and it felt heavy so assumed there was water in it"..................................

Not that she would have had the instructions to hand, but it does show something.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Balls of Stihl.

 

[Setch]

Balls of Stihl.

Balls OFF Stihl!

 

[andersonec]

Next time you buy a packet of Peanuts or some other type of nuts from the supermarket, check what it says it may contain.

Wonder what HSE would be like if they could get involved in Afghanistan?

 

[marcus]

but then people come in all sorts of shapes\sizes & intelligence and there will be folk in this latter category for whom such instructions would be of benefit.

sure, but if someone is bright enough to be able to read and absorb such a leaflet then they almost certainly don't need to.

Still, as Mick says, it's not actually meant to be instructions, they're just covering their backs for when someone does submerge it in the bath and turns it on....

 

[Jamesc]

Next time you buy a packet of Peanuts or some other type of nuts from the supermarket, check what it says it may contain.

Wonder what HSE would be like if they could get involved in Afghanistan?

I totaly agree with the sentiment bu its absolutly nothing to do with the HSE, direct your ire at the Lawyers and in particular that wonderful import from the US 'No Win No Fee'

Sadly there are many people only too happy to claim damages for things like this and as it is so costly to defend many companies have a policy of just paying up as it is cheaper - except for us as we pay for it.

Just my 2p worth

 

[marcros]

Next time you buy a packet of Peanuts or some other type of nuts from the supermarket, check what it says it may contain.

Wonder what HSE would be like if they could get involved in Afghanistan?

I believe that peanuts are not actually a nut but a legume. So the warning that this packet may contain nuts, is probably a warning that it has been packaged within a facility that also packs (proper) nuts.

Sure I read something along those lines in a Stephen Fry trivia book.

 

[henton49er]

The instructions are in English only - in spite of being on sale in Wales, with a local population that speaks Welsh, a large Polish community and many others whose first language is not English. If we have to have instructions why are all these people disadvantaged?

I would have thought that a single shhet of paper would have been sufficient to cover any significant issues in using a kettle!!

 

[Racers]

Who buys a kettle and does not use it to boil water?

I bet you people have (and will) used kettles to heat and/or boil soup, milk.

BugBear

I made beans on toast once, took ages to clean the toaster :shock: :wink:

Pete

 

[Sawyer]

I heard of an American maker of metal ladders getting sued after a Darwin Award contender rested his ladder on electric cables. No need to describe the result of this - but the law suit was based on the manufacturer's failure to put a 'Don't lean this on electric cables!' sticker on their product.

We can't blame manufacturers for covering themselves by crossing the T's and dotting the I's. It's a sign of the times!

 

[Eric The Viking]

My wife has a good friend who works for the HSE.

Friend is an inspector and very pragmatic about risk. She was very helpful (informally) when I had to reject some scaffolding put up round the house last spring. That was genuinely dangerous in several ways, and I was encouraged that she picked up on the things I did.

She'd be the first to point out that most of these sillinesses sound as daft to the HSE as they do to us.

And she's recommended that method of chainsaw starting on several occasions...

... just kidding on the last bit.

E